Escondido to host 30-megawatt battery

will be one of two lo­cations in San Diego County where SDG&E will be installing the large- scale storage batteries. The Escondido substation located at 571 Enterprise St. will be the site of a 30-megawatt storage unit. The construction process has already begun and should be com­pleted by January.

The California Public Utilities Com­mission (CPUC) August 18 approved a proposal by San Diego Gas & Elec­tric

(SDG&E) to build two new energy storage projects in San Diego County. In May, the CPUC directed Southern California electric utilities to fast-track additional energy storage options to enhance regional energy reliability.

The smaller 7.5 MW unit will be in El Cajon.

Adding storage resources improves the overall reliability of the grid as it allows the system to accommodate greater amounts of renewable power and helps to ease congestion. SDG&E proposes to charge the batteries during times when there is an abundance of so­lar or wind power and discharge them during the peak usage time in the early evening.

“We were in the process of a competi­tive solicitation for energy storage and already had completed a pre-evaluation of respondents,” said James P. Avery, SDG&E’s chief development officer. “As a result, we could move quickly to respond to the CPUC’s request for ex­pedited proposals.”

In mid-July, SDG&E signed an agreement with AES for a total of 37.5 megawatts (MW) of lithium-ion bat­tery storage. AES is a major supplier of advanced storage technology and other energy resources around the world.

SDG&E will own the storage projects that AES will build on utility-owned property in Escondido and El Cajon.

Construction will begin immediately and should be completed in early 2017.

The CPUC requires SDG&E to pro­cure a total of 165 MW of energy stor­age by 2020, to be operational by 2024.

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